How budget issues affect technologists

Abstract

Departmental budgets create active issues that positively or negatively affect the technologist's everyday practice. This literature review was conducted to determine if technologists' quality of care and radiation safety were at risk and if examination productivity was affected. Midwestern State University's library database was searched for the most recent literature concerning these issues using CINAHL, Academic Search Complete, and MEDLINE databases. The literature used for this review found that a department with a minimalist budget negatively affected technologists' occupational attitude and job satisfaction because of budget cuts and lack of communication between management and employees; this adversely affected the quality of care given. Radiation protection practices were noncompliant in some facilities with a poor budget because educational programs could not be funded and adequate shielding resources were not provided, which increased the risk of unnecessary radiation exposure to personnel and patients. In contrast, a department with generous funds that had continuing education programs available showed compliance with radiation protection. Furthermore, departments with a strong budget that included purchasing a picture archiving computer system created a more simplistic workflow, increased patient throughput, and increased examination productivity. It was found that budgets should be correctly distributed in order to create optimal occupational success for a department because working under a minimalist budget ultimately affects many aspects of technologists' day-to-day practice. Because of the age of the most current articles, a need to conduct research focusing on recent changes affecting budgetary concerns has been shown. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.